UAE Spends $2M on US Firms ‘Terakeet’ and ‘TRG’ to Whitewash Image
The United Arab Emirates has, for years, committed blatant war crimes in neighboring nations both, via direct intervention and indirect involvement. It has either smuggled weapons to militants or supplied mercenaries in support. Now the Internet echoes across globe the cries of innocent Yemeni and Libyan civilians at the receiving end of the human rights abuse and war crimes committed by UAE. Nevertheless, just like suppression of freedom of speech and expression, UAE has bought its way to suppress the virtual cries of dissidents and activists, accusing it on international platforms. In the past six months, PR contracts worth millions were signed between UAE Terakeet and UAE TRG Advisory Services, respectively. The firms have been hired to clear negative Google searches in the country’s name, and promote a positive image in a massive attempt of UAE mediawash.
Cleaning the Mess: Optimizing UAE’s Reputation
After making Middle East a war zone and politically destabilizing the region for years, the UAE Terakeet contract aims at carrying out media washing through the promotion of positive search engine optimization and podcast. The job undertaken by the Syracuse-based Terakeet is to clean negative Google search results on UAE war crimes and UAE human rights abuses and promote positive ones instead. Meanwhile, UAE hired TRG (The Rothkopf Group) Advisory Services at an annual fee of $540,000 to conduct “Podbridge” podcast.
The podcast will cover “emerging issues and ideas of shared interest in the U.S., the Middle East and around the world.”
TRG’s founder David Rothkopf has been a longtime lobbyist for the United Arab Emirates and in 2018, he became UAE’s registered media consultant and foreign agent. As the registered foreign agent for the UAE embassy, Rothkopf has obtained several PR projects worth thousands of dollars, including the one worth $540,000 in 2018 alone.
TRG used $7,045 for “external podcast production services” from the annual fee of $540,000, and spent $3,226.25 for “external website maintenance expenses,” instead. As far as the contract between UAE Terakeet is concerned, the Syracuse-based SEO firm assigned eight new people for the Google optimization agreement with the UAE Embassy in Washington. From the Director and Manager of SEO, dedicated SEO analysts and content specialist, all have been hired as individual agents under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. Till September 2020, the UAE Terakeet agreement acquired $1.75 million in payment from the UAE Embassy in Washington. Both the US-based firms are lobbying and promoting a monarchy like UAE that has had deep roots in war crimes committed in several Middle Eastern civil wars and has a history of repressing its own population.
The Internet has been an unbiased medium for the people of Middle East to reach out to the rest of the world and put to display the UAE human rights abuse and UAE war crimes they endured in Yemen, Libya and in the UAE itself. However, the Emirati regime has been a powerful player in repression, whether it is freedom of speech and expression. With the 2020 contract signed by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi MbZ Terakeet, the rich Gulf nation shows not only its versatility in repressing dissent both, in and around the country, but also how it can buy its way out of the consequences.
